#riffsonthebrokenstring

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Track 9, Teeth, begins with fast-paced picked bass and a lot of good old fashion noise! Just to remind us that oh yeah! This is rock music! The vocals are a little out there for sure in this one. There are no strong melody lines, but you can't beat the rhythm (and the torrential pick slides on the electric). And yes, he is in fact talking about his teeth in this song... you heard correctly! About 2:30s in you'll be thinking is... is that a clarinet. The answer is: well, it was... I love it when these guys go a little wild in their music. This song is the epitome of wild. 3:30s in, it completely changes the feel. We go into half time with a nice muted trombone and dragging brass section rolling along as the vocals sound as though they are being run through a PA system. I like the poetry of it all during the PA announcing, very well thought out. ...And then it ends. This one's a little out there folks! 

Track 8, Hypocrite, starts of with a hollow drum beat and some interesting auxiliary percussion. The vocals come in very gently and deliberately. All the while, the toms move the pace right along. The brass section comes back once again, mainly trombones and low trumpet parts. Falsetto comes back into play with the pre-chorus. This song has a much more laid back feel even with the moving drum rhythm. It's almost as if someone took southern rock and country, then it had a baby who is cousin to New Orleans jazz... I very much enjoy the experimental brass segments that pepper the bridge and guitar solo. I can clearly state that I've never heard a song from Cage the Elephant quite like this one before. Enjoy.

Track 7, Black Widow, begins with instant heavy drums and a low brass section. The smooth vocals come in almost serenading you in the first part of the verse. The chorus brings the brass section back again while the singer sings almost completely in a double tracked falsetto voice. During the verse, all guitars are dropped so that the bass line shines through along with the vocals. At the end of the second chorus the brass section growls at you, making things heavier than ever before. Thus far, this is the most jammin track on the album. It's got the funk, the brass section, and the cutting vocals. This is a track that will knock you off your feet.

Track 6, Halo, starts off with very minimally effected guitar. It has a really nice drive sound with a little bit of reverb on it. It has the walking bass feel, which keeps the song rolling along. The pre-chorus builds up to the chorus very nicely. Higher backup vocals ring out in the end of the verse and add an extra burst of emotion. "Why does it take so long? Why does it feel so wrong?" Lyrics everyone can relate to. The main riff in this song is reminiscent of Fluorescent Adolescent by the Arctic Monkeys, but you can tell this album has more of a major label feel to it. It still has the raw blues emotions from their previous work, but they have stepped it up a notch as far as production quality and wall of sound goes. Many of these songs are fairly short, the majority being between 3-4 mins, which makes it easy for people to jump into any one of these songs and give a listen.

Track 5, Take It or Leave It, begins with some palm muted guitar and almost summer vibes going along with it. Its got almost a Beach Boys feeling to it aside from the drums. Very soft singing vocals, until it gets to the chorus and then the heavier guitar tracks come in. Still has the blues twangs to go along with it and the bass line is incredibly easy to dance to. The filter over his voice gives a little bit of overdrive sound for the vocals. This is a pretty laid back song. The solo involves several sharp chord hits and then the bridge is back to smooth bass lines and vocals of the character in this song talking about how he's in love with this girl and to "take it or leave it."

Track 2, Come a Little Closer, starts off with a funky bass riff and light guitar chords picked in the background. The vocals come in with a light filter over the top, double-tracked which gives a bigger sound overall. A synth lead accompanies the mix with ambient chords. The stereo sound of it all is wonderfully done. The chorus, catchy, but the lyrics really stand out because of the heartfelt poetry of it all. Asking someone to come a little closer so they can see him for who he is. So far, I'm very impressed with the progressions of these songs. The bridges are written in better than they have done with their previous work. The end of this bridge has a long build up back to the chorus, bringing the lyrics to the foreground once again. The drum fills during the last chorus were incredibly tasteful, going along with what he was trying to convey in his lyrics very well. Very enjoyable track, easy to listen to. Makes sense that this was the single released from this album.

Track 1, Spiderhead, starts off with heavy bass right from the beginning. The clear resonant tones of the lead guitar come in soon after. The vocals have a much thicker production than Cage the Elephant's usual tone. Very heavy bass throughout the entirety of the song. The cymbals on the set don't exactly stand out from the mix because of the amount of distortion in the rhythm guitar and the synth bass that accompanies the chorus. It's got a pretty catchy chorus, what with the description of the spiders in his head and mind. The synth distortion really distracts my attention from the rest of the song. The sudden switch from 4/4 to 6/8 in the bridge-end of the song is a great change of pace, helping to bring out the beat and lead riff a little bit more before stopping on the dime.